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Listen to Aphex Twin's lost 1994 album for free thanks to fan crusade

Listen to Aphex Twin's lost 1994 album for free thanks to fan crusade

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Kickstarter campaign raised $67,000 for 15 tracks by Richard D. James

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Connoisseurs of dark, pulsing, and often unsettling electronic music can now stream a previously unreleased 15-track collection by Aphex Twin, after fans collaborated to buy a test pressing of the album from 1994. Richard D. James — the man behind the hugely influential Aphex Twin — originally recorded the tracks under the name Caustic Window. They were never publicly released, and remained inaccessible to most of James' legion of fans until earlier this year, when a test pressing of the two-record set appeared on music marketplace Discogs for $13,500.

Aphex Twin fans on electronic music forum We Are The Music Makers quickly banded together, successfully convincing the seller to remove his pressing from Discogs, and offer access on Kickstarter. Backers were asked to contribute $16 each to the campaign, an amount that would give them an electronic copy of the vinyl record, and add toward the total of $9,300 requested by the seller.

That figure was surpassed after a few days, eventually reaching a total of more than $67,000. The enigmatic James gave the Kickstarter his blessing, and copyright holder Rephlex Records said it would not be releasing the album in any way, shape, or form after the funding stage was complete. The campaign is now in its second stage, with the Caustic Window test pressing up for sale on eBay, and the $67,000 being split three ways: one third going to James, one third to charity, and one third back to the people who backed the Kickstarter, in violation of the crowdfunding platform's rules.